A woman at the top of the Medicines Agency: here are the names in pole position

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After the recent sensational resignation of Giorgio Palù a woman is in pole position to take on the role of president of the Italian Medicines Agency. And the confirmation might arrive coinciding with Women’s Day – next March 8 – when the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci might reveal the name which in any case might end up on the table of the State-Regions Conference the day before (the nomination is in agreement with the Regions). Three names in pole position for the presidency, all with a solid CV.

President Palu’ leaves AIFA: “Unheeded by Schillaci”

A female nomination for the Aifa summit is coming soon

That of the presidency is a prestigious but also weighty position given that following the reform of the Aifa which came into force on January 30th, the figure of the president has management and direction duties as well as being the body and legal representative of the Agency: the restyling of the Medicines Authority has in fact envisaged, among other things, the abolition of the figure of general director, thus overcoming the “dyarchy” that in the past had sometimes slowed down the work. Among the names circulating for the presidency, in place of the resigning Giorgio Palù, is that of the pharmacologist Annalisa Capuano, professor at the “Luigi Vanvitelli” University of Campania. Capuano was, among other things, responsible for the pharmacovigilance of the Region and among the independent experts, once more in pharmacovigilance, for the EMEA (the EU medicines agency). Among the other female names circulating for the presidency is that of Patrizia Popoli director of the National Center for Drug Research and Evaluation of the ISS, an authoritative figure with long experience at AIFA. Finally, a curriculum of weight also for Paola Minghettiprofessor of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Milan and president of the Italian Society of Pharmaceutical Technology and Legislation as well as of the technology division of the Italian Chemical Society.

All appointments to the new Medicines Agency

The new president will be supported by the technical-scientific director Pierluigi Russo and the administrative one Giovanni Pavesi, just named. Just as the members of the new scientific and economic drug commission have already been chosen: he will chair it Lara Nicoletta Angela Gitto. The other names indicated by the Ministry of Health are Giancarlo Agnelli, Walter Marrocco e Vincenzo Danilo Lozupone. Ida Fortino it is instead the component indicated by the Ministry of Economy. Elisa Sangiorgi, Giuseppe Toffoli e Giovanna Scroccaro the names designated by the Regions. Finally, completing the team will be the technical-scientific director of the Agency and the president of the Higher Institute of Health Rocco Bellantone, or his delegate. With the appointment of the president, the drug agency finally becomes operational: «Soon there will be the appointment of the new president of AIFA and a timely and precise organizational chart, ready to face the challenges of pharma», confirmed the undersecretary of Health Marcello Gemmato.